


Will things ever be the same again?

by SimplyEssa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angry Lance (Voltron), Blood and Gore, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Flashback, Hallucinations, Heavy Angst, Hurr Keith (Voltron), Implied Rape/Non-con, Implied Violence, Just plain ol' torture, Keith (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith (Voltron) centric, Keith (Voltron) is also a Mess, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Like, Little bits of Fluff, Little bits of humor, Lotor is a sick fuck, M/M, Major Character Injury, Panic Attacks, Plot What Plot, Protective Lance (Voltron), Psychological Torture, Sad Lance (Voltron), Scared Lance (Voltron), Torture, Trauma, Worried Lance (Voltron), and ptsd haha, because stuff happened, but a lot of angst, but a worse mess, emotional torture, established relationship - klance, fluff?, i have no idea when this is based, i will mirder every last one of you mad, idk - Freeform, im sorry, im sorry?, implied shatt - Freeform, injuries, keith and lance are dating, like really heavy, maybe sometime after they find shiro, not a lot, nothing graphic, some - Freeform, straight up, the violence/torture is very graphic, you guys are in for a wild ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 23:46:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11931858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyEssa/pseuds/SimplyEssa
Summary: Lance would love it if things could go back to the way they were-Where Keith would cuddle against him at nights, helping him deal with the nightmares.Where they'd share kisses before going off to battle, telling eachother to be safe.Where they'd argue during the day, but never with real venom.But it can't.Not after what they did to his Keith.





	Will things ever be the same again?

**Author's Note:**

> yes, keith is lances.  
> and touchstarved because i find it adorable when keith is the one to be sitting on lances lap or whatever  
> i've got this weird thing for torturing keith to the brink of insanity don't judge me  
> *coughmariacough*  
> yes hello i'm back and should be working on other shot buT OH WELL  
> (and i ship shatt and shallura. they're both good;) )

How long has it been?

A month?

A year?

Keith didn't know anymore.

He lost track after the first ten minutes.

That day, they had asked him questions. When he didn't answer, they tried to give him motivation.

It didn't work.

Even now, strung to the ceiling, chains wrapped around his wrists, ankles, knees and elbows, forced to take blow after blow of the Galra's version of a crowbar, he didn't answer any questions, even with how broken he was.

The weapon was shaped like a crowbar, just a lot harder, hurt a lot more, and of course, it was purple.

With spikes on the end.

It ripped away at his skin, over and over, leaving flesh and muscle exposed. Blood trailed down from each hole, painting Keith's skin a crimson red.

Every time he remained silent, they'd hit him in a different spot.

Keith ignored the questions.

He ignored the pain.

He ignored everything.

He focused on Lance.

He focused on his self sacrificing personality, his sweet smile, his loving kisses after they woke up-

God, how he missed it.

He was never getting out of here.

They had shown him illusions, all which Keith thought were real, of him getting rescued, only to be thrown out of an airlock because of his Galra heritage.

Other illusions, he hadn't been able to save any of them when he was being rescued, and they all blamed him.

In the worst ones, Lance would break up with Keith when he got there for his Galra heritage, leave him to rot, and make out with Lotor in front him.

Those hurt the most.

Now, he never knew what was real or what was fake.

They had broken him.

In a matter of minutes.

Keith still wouldn't answer their questions, and it was making them pissed.

"Do you want to see Prince Lotor again, Paladin?" The one with the crowbar hissed.

Keith stiffened.

No, he did not want to see Lotor again, especially not after the last two times.

He didn't, he didn't, he didn't-

"Are you finally ready to answer our questions, mutt?" 

Despite his fear, he wouldn't.

He wouldn't- no, he couldn't betray his team.

He physically couldn't.

He would not do that to them.

He'd do this a million times if it meant keeping them safe.

The Galra sighed.

"Unchain him. Bring him to Lotor."

Keith's eyes widened.

He didn't want to go back-

Two Galran soldiers we're beside him, unchaining his legs first.

They knew he couldn't do much to fight back. 

He was bruised and bloody, suffering from multiple broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, blood loss, and he was exhausted.

He hadn't slept in days.

"No- please- I don't-!" Keith was crying now, begging them.

Begging the filfthy Galra.

"Are you going to answer my questions?"

Keith looked at the floor.

"That's what I thought."

With that, the Galra put the crowbar back on the table, ignored all of Keith's pleas, and left the cell.

* * *

Lance stared at the holographic clock displayed on the wall.

Pidge had created them shortly after they came up to space, so everyone would have a mostly normal sleep schedule.

They had all used it for exactly that purpose- keeping track of when they slept.

But now, with Keith taken, Lance used it as a stopwatch.

It had been seven months, eight days, four hours, thirty six minutes and forty two seconds since they had captured him.

Lance didn't know how, but Red wasn't taken- she was still in her bay, sitting proudly with her particle barrier up, allowing no one inside.

She knew Allura would replace her pilot if she did open up.

But, sure enough, she opened up for Lance, only when he was alone.

Red knew what he was going through.

His boyfriend, Red's Paladin, had been taken, was probably dead, or close to dead, and Lance couldn't do a damn thing about it, because they couldn't find him.

Only Red could help him.

Red understood what he was going through.

Soon after Keith had been captured, the first time Red allowed him in, she spoke to him.

She can't feel him enough to find him, but she knows he's alive, because if he wasn't, the bond would have shattered.

She loved Keith almost as much as Lance, just not romantically. 

He was like her cub.

No one else, not even Shiro, loved him the way they did. 

No one else understood.

They still hadn't found him.

They had a faint signal of where he was, thanks to the tracker in his undersuit, but the ship moved too fast for them to find him.

Lance shook his head to clear the thoughts, choking down the sob that threatened to come loose.

He would find him.

He had to.

Seven months, eight days, four hours, forty three minutes and twelve seconds now.

* * *

Keith didn't remember falling asleep.

After his _session_ with Lotor, he was brought back to his cell to answer questions. They used a different tool that time: Electricity.

When that didn't work (it resulted in Keith spitting blood at the commander, which then resulted with a backhand a disgusted scoff), they forced the headpiece onto him, locked him in his restraints, and let the illusions do their work.

Or the reality.

Keith didn't know, but he was still here, so he assumed it was fake.

The headpiece was still on now, but whenever he passes out, it turns off to prevent brain damage.

It stays turned off until someone turns it on again, so now, Keith is left blind, a loud buzzing noise filling his ears.

He was so sick of that noise.

Even in the illusions, it was there.

It came from the stupid headpiece, and Keith was so sick of it.

So. Very. Sick. Of. It.

He had no way to tell how much time had passed until the soldiers came in, which meant a few hours or so had passed.

They tortured him about every four hours.

He knew it would get him nowhere, but he continued to pull at all of his cuffs.

He didn't want to go back.

It hurt.

They only ever healed him if he was dying of blood loss or a puncture in a vital organ. 

Even then, they didn't heal him too much.

They fed him enough to live, but not enough to fight back.

He was still incredibly weak.

He was going to die here.

He wanted to see Lance again.

Why wouldn't they let him have that?

He felt someone touching his shoulder.

He shivered, trying to jerk away.

He couldn't.

A string of incoherent mumbles and pleas escaped his lips.

Keith didn't really know what he said, but he remembered saying something about Lance and not wanting to go back.

The hand slowly moved from his shoulder to his throat.

Keith let out a sob, moving as far away as he could.

It was Lotor.

He knew it was Lotor.

_Please don't make me I don't want to please I'm sorry let me see Lance I need to see him help me I'm sorry don't hurt me-_

The headpiece was ripped off of his head.

The sudden light and noise startled Keith, pulling a pathetic whimper from within him as he shut his eyes and tried to curl around his worst injuries.

"Don't be like that, _darling_ ," Lotor purred, forcing his chin up. "Open your eyes."

Keith refused, squeezing them tighter as tears leaked free, trailing down his cheeks.

"Let go of him!"

Keith's tears eyes fluttered open. 

Had he just heard Lance..?

He hardly registered when Lotor's claws broke his skin; All of his attention was focused on the projection in front of him.

The whole team was there, all staring at them in rage, disgust, concern- 

Wait.

Why was Lotor hailing them?

"Good boy," Lotor squeezed harshly before letting go, causing Keith to whimper. "Now, as you can see," he straightened up, facing the screen with one hand still on Keith's neck, "I have your precious Red Paladin."

"What do you want?" Pidge hissed, speaking for Allura, who seemed to shocked to speak.

Coran was rubbing her back, a movement Lotor wouldn't recognize.

Hunk's hand was on Pidge's shoulder, who practically had steam coming out of her ears.

Shiro was holding Lance, burning holes into Lotor's skull.

Lance-

Lance was screaming curses and threats at Lotor, struggling to get out of Shiro's arms, who was holding him off of the ground. A few tears trailed down his face as well.

"What do I want? Well, since you asked so kindly-"

"Lance..." he whispered under his breath, a lump forming in his throat. 

Lance stopped screaming and struggling, staring at Keith with such sadness in his eyes, Keith thought Hitler would hug him.

"Oh, is this the Lance you keep talking about?" Lotor asked, with a sadistic smile on his face. He removed his hand from Keith's neck, instead placing on the top of Keith's head. 

Keith stared at Lance with confusion on his face. He hadn't talked about Lance...

"Ah, yes, he would blubber like a little baby about how he was very sorry and that he loves you and that he didn't mean to, things like that. He was always sobbing twenty ticks in. I couldn't understand him then," Lotor's claws dug into his skin. He refused to cry out. 

"I will kill you," Lance growled. "I will fucking kill you."

Out of all the time he had spent with Lance, he had never seen him mad.

Sure, he's seen him upset, but never mad.

"I'd like to see you try," Lotor said back, voice calm and steady, even as he slammed Keith's head into the wall behind him.

It took him a few minutes to get his hearing straight.

"...ron for your precious Paladin. Do we have a deal?"

Keith blinked away the blurriness. 

He could see that Lance was back to screaming at Lotor, still being held back by Shiro. His human hand was over Lance's mouth.

"Don't," Keith croaked, voice hoarse. "Get a new pilo-"

"Put the device back on him," Lotor snapped his fingers at the guard beside the door.

The Galra picked up the piece and walked over to Keith.

Allura clasped her hands in front of her, glaring at Lotor. "No-"

"Take me in-!"

Lance's voice was replaced with the loud buzzing.

"Take it off, take it off, take it off, take it off-!"

Keith stopped when he received a backhand. 

He sobbed.

He just wanted Lance.

_Help me._

* * *

Even with all of his time in the rebel group (a year and a half, to be exact), Matt still hadn't seen Voltron.

He had only ever heard of it.

How did he know it actually existed? 

When he received a mission to one of the Galra ships, to free prisoners, he sure as hell wasn't expecting to find one of the Paladins.

And he sure wasn't expecting the Paladin to be human.

Matt was sent with two other rebels; One would open the doors and get the prisoners out, while the other two would take them to the pods. 

Matt was the one to open the doors- they hadn't encountered any guards.

They probably didn't know the rebels were on their ship, especially with the distraction in space.

There was only one prisoner cell left, so Matt sent everyone else ahead.

He was expecting it to be full of prisoners, like the others were, but instead, there was one person chained in the centre of the room, sobbing nonsense with some sort of helmet over it's head.

There was one guard in the room. He held some type of crowbar, and was hitting the prisoner with it, who screamed each time it connected with it's skin.

He wasn't sure why the guard was doing that, but he knew it needed to stop. 

He charged at the guard, staff raised, and slammed the electric part over his head.

It crumpled in an unconscious heap on the floor, not noticing Matt when he attacked.

Breathing heavily, he placed the staff on the floor, crouching beside the kneeling prisoner. 

It was still muttering nonsense.

"I'm sorry- I didn't mean to- please stop- Lance- let me see him- I'm sorry!" it sobbed. The thing seemed familiar.

Pushing the thought aside, he ignored the prisoner, instead focusing on getting it's chains off.

When he grabbed the restraint around it's neck, it flinched and started to hyperventilate. 

He had never seen any aliens hyperventilate.

He'd only ever seen humans hyperventilate.

He didn't think aliens could hyperventilate.

Could this be a human..?

With newfound anger, he gently pulled the helmet off of it's head.

Matt gasped.

It was Shiro's little brother.

His eyes were screwed shut, tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes, mixing with the dried blood all over his body.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"Keith," he breathed, cupping his thin cheeks, the only place that wasn't cut. "Keith, it's Matt- It's Shiro's boyfriend- Do you remember me?"

Keith's eyes slowly fluttered open. "Matt..?"

"Yeah, yeah it's me. I'll get you out of here, okay?"

"This... this is new..." Keith squeezed his eyes shut, just as he started shaking.

"What is? Keith, open your eyes," Matt grabbed the chains around his feet this time, ignoring the flinch, pulled out his knife, and cut them off.

"No, no, I don't want to-"

Matt cut the chain around his neck. 

When it fell off, clattering to the floor, Keith's neck was exposed.

It had been rubbed raw, blood dripping from small cuts beneath it.

"We'll fix you up, okay, Keith? The group I'm in- they'll help you get better, okay?"

"P...please..." Keith sobbed quietly. "I-I'll answer your questions... I can't see h-him die again..."

What?

Matt would have to ask him about that later. For now, he had to get him off this hellhole.

Matt cut off the shackles around his wrists, preparing to catch Keith if he fell.

Keith let out a pained cry, slumping onto Matt's chest. 

"Y-you n...need Altean... Altean blood... to access... the Castle..." Keith hissed when Matt shifted.

"I'm sorry," Matt whispered, lifting Keith into a firemans carry. 

"O-or... human blood... Allura... s-she changed it... so we cou-could access it..."

Another question for later.

"I-I pilot... th-the Red... Lion," Keith let out another pained cry. "P-please... don't make me see him die..."

The Red Lion...

He's apart of Voltron?

God, Matt had so many questions.

He'd have to hail Voltron later. Inform them that they had the Red Paladin, and were willing to meet.

He was obviously going to send him back, too.

Maybe he knew where Shiro was..?

"Matthew! Where are you?" the comms on his mask came to life, a quiet buzzing surrounding it. 

"I'm on my way, there's another prisoner. I think he's apart of Voltron-!"

Keith coughed, blood splattered down Matt's shoulders.

"When we get back, he needs immediate medical attention! And hail Voltron! We need to get him back!"

"Alright, just hurry up-"

Keith gasped harshly. "P-please..."

"I'm headed to our ship, Jangu," Matt said, turning off the comms. He took a sharp left, shutting the doors behind him. He ran up the ships ramp, placing his hand on the pad to raise it.

He placed the now unconscious Keith on one of the cots in the back, covering one of his wounds with his hands.

"Go!" He yelled at the pilot, who he forgot the name of. "When we're out, hail Voltron!"

"What's going on?"

"I'll explain later, just get to the base. This kid needs medical attention."

The ship lurched out of the base, disappearing through a wormhole while Keith groaned in his sleep.

* * *

"I don't know who the hell you are. Scratch that, I don't care who you fucking are. Give us our friend back, and you'll all go unharmed," Lance growled into his speaker, aiming the Blue Lion's blasters at the ship carrying Keith. 

Pidge had hacked into the security cameras of the ship. She looked through all of the cameras to find Keith's cell, to no avail.

She did, however, manage to find his bayard and armour, which Hunk had grabbed quickly.

She kept searching through the cameras to find something that could lead them to Keith-

It took her five minutes, but she found someone carrying him.

No one could figure out who was carrying him- they had a mask covering their face.

They watched him turn a corner, knocking Keith out in the process.

He ran up a ramp, disappearing as it closed.

Lance watched it leave the ship through Blue, entering a worm hole.

He quickly followed through the wormhole, ignoring the protests of the team.

Lance was going to murder that person, along with every fucking Galra that hurt him.

The ship in front of him stopped.

A visual appeared on his screen, showing behind the Pilot's seat.

Another human was laying over Keith, wrapping up one of his cuts.

"Meet us at the planet Jinovua. We will bring your friend."

The visual cut off, leaving Lance even angrier than before.

He barely kept himself from firing the ship as it flew away.

Lance followed them.

He'd get Keith back, no matter how long it would take.

Seven months, nine days, twelve hours, thirteen minutes, and twenty three seconds.

He wouldn't waste another hour.

He would find Keith.

He would bring him home, safe and sound.

 

**Author's Note:**

> incoming- angst  
> yes, this was short.  
> yes, i'm starting another thing.  
> yes, keith is going to be terrified when he wakes up.  
> oops my bad  
> lemme know if you guys enjoyed :)  
> (unbetad, feedback is greatly appreciated!)


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